Top Tracks: Michael Jablonka – Papier-mâché

It’s not often that we get to gush about guitar solos anymore. Whether they’ve fallen out of favour, or it’s just harder to play a solo that really stands out as exceptional, whatever the reason it’s become an increasingly overlooked art form. Artists need look no further than the latest single from London’s Michael Jablonka for an example of how to truly shine. Equal parts Michael Kiwanuka and The Black Keys, ‘Papier-mâché’ features one of the best solos I’ve heard since starting Belwood. It caterwauls through the centre of the track, whirling at an unrelenting pace towards its eventual crash into the calm interlude that follows. It’s the musical equivalent of being strapped to fireworks and sent spiralling into the stratosphere at breakneck speed. Then, just as you feel like you can’t take the g-forces tearing at you any longer, you emerge above the clouds and become transfixed by the empyrean scene before you.